[Objective] The objective of our study is evaluate the associations between urinary metabolite concentrations of organophosphate (OP) pesticides and telomere length in US general population from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
[Methods] We evaluated the data for 1,724 participants aged 20 or over from the NHANES 1999-2002. OP pesticide exposures were determined using the following urinary seven metabolites of OP pesticides: dimethyl phosphate (DMP); dimethyl thiophosphate (DMTP); dimethyl dithiophosphate (DMDTP); diethyl phosphate (DEP); diethyl thiophosphate (DETP); diethyl dithiophosphate (DEDTP); 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol (TCPY). To assess the associations between OP metabolite concentrations and telomere length, multiple linear regression was conducted, after adjusting for demographic and physiologic covariates.
[Results] Geometric means (± SE) of urinary OP metabolite concentrations were 1.51 (± 0.08) μg/L for TCPY, 1.30 (± 0.14) μg/L for DMTP, 1.07 (± 0.05) μg/L for DMP, 0.73 (± 0.07) for DEP, 0.37 (± 0.04) μg/L for DETP, 0.26 (± 0.02) μg/L for DMDTP, and 0.10 (± 0.01) μg/L for DEDTP. Compared with participants in the lowest quartile of TCPY concentrations, those in the second quartile had significantly shorter telomere length (-0.06, 95% CI: -0.10, -0.02). Compared with participants in the lowest tertile of DETP concentrations, those in the second and third tertiles had significantly longer telomere length (0.08, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.14 and 0.06, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.11). No associations were observed between telomere length and the other five OP metabolites.
[Conclusions] Our results suggest that OP pesticide exposures may affect telomere length, although associations were inconsistent depending on the kind of OP metabolites. To elucidate the potential effect of OP pesticide exposures, further studies should be performed.